Commish stands by China partnership
Adam Silver isn’t going to give up the NBA’s business with China.
Following criticism from American politicians, namely President Donald Trump, and charges of hypocrisy for partnering with a violator of human rights, Silver said Tuesday that his league’s relationship with China is beneficial to bridging cultural differences between countries.
“There are definitely tradeoffs there and somebody could say given the system of government in China you, the NBA, should make a decision not to operate there,” Silver told CNN. “I would only say that at the end of the day, I think those are decisions for our government in terms of where American business should operate. I continue to believe that the people-to-people exchanges we’re seeing by playing in China are positive, and it’s helping — it helps cultures learn about each other.
“Again, it allows us to export sort of American values to China.”
The NBA’s relationship with China came under fire in October when Rockets GM Daryl Morey tweeted from his personal account, “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong,” in support of protestors who believed their autonomous democracy was in jeopardy amid legislative pressure from China’s communist government. NBA games were removed from the state-owned television station, and the government allegedly told Silver to fire Morey. Nets owner Joe Tsai, a Taiwanese billionaire, defended China’s response while calling Hong Kong’s protestors “a separatist movement.” LeBron James said Morey “wasn’t educated at the situation at hand,” and the Rockets GM should’ve waited to tweet until the four NBA teams, including James’ Lakers, had left China following their preseason games.
On Tuesday with CNN, Silver alluded to the financial benefit of maintaining the NBA’s China connection, referencing its partnership with Tencent, a Chinese technology conglomerate. Silver previously said the NBA could lose up to $400 million because the Chinese government cut it off last season. It sounds like Silver doesn’t want to lose that in the future.
“As a result of (Morey’s) tweet, we the NBA was taken off CCTV Chinese Central Television in China. Now, we could have decided because they took us off Chinese Central Television that we should — that therefore in instance take our ball and go home and stop operating there,” Silver said. “The fact is our games continue to be streamed on a service called Tencent in China and we’ve continued in there. At least that’s my view, that it’s been net positive to not move to disengagement.”
Since Morey’s tweet, ESPN reported that the NBA helped run Chinese basketball academies where minors were often abused by coaches and staffers at government-run facilities. Trump blasted Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and Warriors coach Steve Kerr – both vocal critics of Trump and social injustices in America – for deflecting questions about China.
More recently, Trump told Fox Sports Radio, “The way (the NBA) catered to China, the way they bowed to China, is a disgrace.”
Meanwhile, the NBA has been a leader in the sports world for promoting social justice while painting “Black Lives Matter” on its courts and funding initiatives meant to counteract America’s systemic racism. Asked how the Social Justice NBA can reconcile its business with China, Silver never really answered and pointed to how and why the NBA’s operations in China began over 40 years ago.
Also, Silver told CNN that his “best guess” is next season will begin in January at the earliest, adding that the goal is to have a full schedule played at home arenas in front of fans.
“We said a week ago or so that the earliest we would start is Christmas of this year,” Silver said, “but the more I’m learning even listening to Dr. Fauci this morning, I continue to believe that we’re going to be better off getting into January.”
The NBA is currently finishing up this 2019-20 season inside the Orlando bubble, and everything else has been pushed back because of the coronavirus pandemic. The draft, normally held in June, is now scheduled for November. The date of free agency has not yet been announced.
For teams in the bubble — especially those advancing far in the playoffs — a few months off before next season will be advantageous. For teams like the Knicks, however, who haven’t played since March, it’s a continuation of a very long layoff.